Organized labor is liking – and the ruling congressional right wing Republicans are slamming – the new final overtime pay rule the Labor Department announced on May 18.

The rule, which takes effect Dec. 1, will make hourly workers earning below $47,476 yearly eligible for overtime pay after they toil more than 40 hours a week. That time-and-a-half pay would aid an estimated 37 percent of all U.S. workers, up from 7 percent that the current 10-year-old overtime rule covers.

“Middle-class jobs deserve middle-class pay, and when you work extra, you should be paid extra. It’s very simple,” Obama administration Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said.

The old rule, promulgated by the GOP George W. Bush regime, set the cap for overtime pay at $23,660. While that figure was higher than in prior years, the Bush government also exempted so many workers from overtime pay that even newspaper editorial assistants – copy boys – were sometimes left out. The new rule has a “duties test” that will bring those workers back in under the rule, DOL fact sheets show.

“New overtime protections mark a major victory for working people that will improve the lives of millions of families across America," said AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka. " We applaud the Obama Administration heeding the call for action to ensure working people get paid for all the hours we work. Taking this step to restore overtime is one of the many ways we are beginning to change the rules of our economy that are rigged in favor of Wall Street.

"Today, millions of workers will receive a long overdue raise, healthier and more productive jobs, and more time to spend with our community and loved ones.”

Supporters of the new rule acknowledge that employers could always get around the new rule by increasing workers' salaries above the threshold or reducing their hours -but that means workers get more pay or get paid for only the hours they worked.

In a statement, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called the overtime rule an "absolute disaster" for the economy. “This regulation hurts the very people it alleges to help,” he said. “Who is hurt most? Students, nonprofit employees, and people starting a new career. By mandating overtime pay at a much higher salary threshold, many small businesses and nonprofits will be unable to afford skilled workers and be forced to eliminate salaried positions, complete with benefits, altogether.”

The Labor Department estimated that more than 100,000 salaried workers in Michigan could be eligible to receive overtime pay later this year under the new rule.

“The final overtime rule will finally end the days when people who work long hours for poverty wages are not required to receive overtime pay,” said Debra Ness, executive director of the National Partnership for Women and Families.

“By updating wage and hour protections that have been allowed to erode for decades, the new rule will put more money or more time in the hands of workers who have long deserved more of both. It will make an enormous difference for millions of working women that this economic lifeline is finally restored.”

Ness called the new rule “an historic advance for fair pay and equal opportunity, and workers and families in every corner of the country will benefit.” She noted it includes an automatic escalator, adjusting the cap upwards every three years to keep pace with wage growth.

The Economic Policy Institute estimates 12.5 million workers will be newly eligible for overtime pay or see their existing rights strengthened, including 6.4 million women.

(Press Associates contributed)